Eagles safety Reed Blankenship just got some really good news. His salary from 2023 just more than doubled.
And then the Eagles signed him to an extension through the 2025 season.
The former undrafted rookie was second in the entire NFL in performance-based pay from the 2023 season, taking home an additional $923,059. The only player in the NFL to earn more for 2023 was Ravens guard John Simpson, who got an additional $974,613.
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The NFL’s performance-based pay has nothing to do with the level of play. It’s based on a formula that accounts for playing time and salary. Basically, the more a player plays on a cheap contract, the more performance-based pay they receive of their team’s pool.
And for Blankenship, this is a big deal. His base salary as a second-year UDFA in 2023 was $870,000, so he’s more than doubling his salary with this performance-based pay.
Blankenship, who turned 25 last month, became a full-time starter with the Eagles in 2023. He missed a couple games but started 15 of 17 and played 973 snaps on defense (81%), as well as 124 on special teams. The only defensive player to play more snaps for the Eagles in 2023 was James Bradberry.
In 2024, Blankenship was set to enter the final year of his three-year rookie deal as an undrafted player and would have become a restricted free agent after the season. But the Eagles extended him a year. His base salary in 2024 will still be just $985,000. Even if Blankenship isn’t a high-level starter, he’s proven himself to be an NFL player after going undrafted out of Middle Tennessee State in 2022.
NFL
Despite being a five-year starter in college, Blankenship didn’t get drafted in 2022. His deal with the Eagles included just $55,000 guaranteed and he got a signing bonus of just $5,000. He got the second-lowest guarantee among the Eagles’ 12-man UDFA class of 2022. For reference, QB Carson Strong had $320K guaranteed and got a signing bonus of $20K that spring.
Last year, former Eagles safety Marcus Epps led the NFL in performance-based pay after his 2022 season. Epps took home an additional $880,384 from the Super Bowl season. Epps signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the Raiders last offseason, which helped push Blankenship into a starting role.
The Eagles this offseason brought back C.J. Gardner-Johnson on a three-year deal so he’s obviously one of their starting safeties in 2024. For now, Blankenship appears to be the other, especially because 2023 third-round pick Sydney Brown is working his way back from an ACL tear from late in his rookie season. But there are still months before the 2024 season begins.
The NFL this season divvied up $393.8 million in performance-based pay for the 2023 season. This program has been around since the 2002 season and has paid out nearly $2.4 billion, according to the league. This pay is distributed evenly among the 32 teams and does not count toward the salary cap.
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